TRANSITION FROM COLLEGE TO WORK: A FOLLOW UP STUDY OF GRADUATES FROM POST SECONDARY MUSIC PROGRAMS IN PUERTO RICO

During the last decades there had been an increase in follow up studies among graduates from higher education institutions and their transition from school to work, largely because of the importance of the information these former students can give, and the benefit that can be attain from it. Colleges and universities have been using alumni surveys to see how well their programs worked and how satisfied the students are with the academic formation and services they had received. Institutional effectiveness, academic assessment and units’ accreditation processes can also be measure by means of graduates’ opinion. Colleges draw potential incoming students when showing employment rates among its graduates. Statistics and data regarding college students entering the labor market can be useful for governmental, public and private organizations in order to establish goals and appraise their services.

Post secondary music programs in Puerto Rico expect their graduates to develop their potential at their most, and engage professionally in those areas that they were prepared on. This study of graduates from post secondary music programs in Puerto Rico give a glimpse of this group’s transition from college to work, their satisfaction with their job, with their academic instruction and their engagement in further professional development.

The study was carried out in 2007 with music graduates from five post secondary institutions in Puerto Rico. A survey prepared specifically for the study was given out and 131 graduates answer 29 items regarding musical vocation, academic development, working experiences, school and job relationship and satisfaction.

Among the findings it’s seem that most graduates from post secondary music programs in Puerto Rico already had some musical experience before entering college, the majority of them are working in areas related to their main academic program and are mostly satisfied with their academic instruction and with their actual job. Although many of them indicated a high level of personal, social, and familiar satisfaction when their jobs were related to their studies, economic satisfaction represented the lowest level among graduates, whether their jobs were related or not with their academic instruction. Also, many felt that their immediate superiors are not satisfied with their labor.